Name:
Kaikaifilu
(named after Kai-Kai fil�, an oceanic diety from Mapuche
mythology).
Phonetic: Ky-ky-fe-lu.
Named By: R. A. Otero, S. Soto-Acuna, D.
Rubilar-Rogers & C. S. Gutstein - 2017.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauroidea, Mosasauridae, Tylosaurinae.
Species: K. hervei (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated skull about 1.1 - 1.2 meters
long. Total body length estimated to be at least 10 meters long.
Known locations: Antarctica, Seymour Island -
Lopez de Bertodano Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and jaw. Head
of a humerus bone.
Kaikaifilu
is certainly an interesting genus of mosasaur.
First it was one of
the larger mosasaurs known to have been hunting in the waters of the
Southern hemisphere. Also, the teeth of Kaikaifilu
were heterodont,
meaning that there were different forms of teeth within the mouth.
This makes Kaikaifilu to be the only the second
genus of mosasaur
known to have had heterodont dentition (the first being
Eremiasaurus).
Heterodonty in creatures often points to them being
generalist feeders, and it is possible that Kaikaifilu
may have been
a generalist hunter.
Kaikaifilu
is among a growing number of ancient marine reptiles known to have
lived in waters around Antarctica, which back in the Cretaceous was
not frozen like it is today. A species of the mosasaur
Taniwhasaurus
and the plesiosaur
Aristonectes
are also known from
Antarctica.
Further reading
- Kaikaifilu hervei gen. et sp. nov., a new
large mosasaur
(Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the upper Maastrichtian of
Antarctica. - Cretaceous Research 70:209-225. - R. A.
Otero, S. Soto-Acuna, D. Rubilar-Rogers & C. S.
Gutstein - 2017.